Building Resilience for Adaptation to CC

in Agriculture

Suzan Braatz | Cassandra de Young | Alexandre Meybeck

FAO

FAO Knowledge Day Doha 1st December 2012

Drivers of Change

Climate

Acidification

Overfishing

Altered habitats

Pollution/Water quality Governance and politics

Technological change

Markets System

Culture

Capital/labor flows

Legal systems

Demographics

Affecting biological processes Affecting human choices

Etc… Etc…

What CC changes?

• New risks and opportunities

• More variability

• Changes existing risks

• More uncertainty

• Concepts

• Specific risks and risks management strategies

• Case studies

• National policies

• Different perspectives: Biophysical, Economic, social

• Different scales

Risks and Systems:

Impacts of a drought on

livestock grazing systems

Systems

at different

scales

Climate change impacts on fisheries and aquaculture

Predicted effects on fisheries’ catch potential

Cheung et al. 2009

Vulnerabilities and vulnerability

Vulnerability of “what” to “what”:

SYSTEM or

COMPONENT(s)

which “bear” the

vulnerability DOMAIN(s)

Variable/quality/dim

ension(s) which

characterize the

entry of the system

in an affected state

RISK or

SET of RISKS

Vulnerability at scales

V (Territory)

V (Landscape)

V (Farm)

Landscape

Farm

V(Farm) Farm Animal disease

Risk

Vulnerability at scales Compounding effects

From one level to another, vulnerabilities can either :

Add themselves (+)

Compensate each other ( - ÷ √ )

Amplify each other ( × )

Understanding vulnerabilities: applied fisheries example

Allison et al, 2009

Global mapping of national economies’ vulnerability to climate change impacts on

fisheries

Resilience

Preparing and responding to the impacts: adaptation to climate change through broader

vulnerability reduction • Ecological, Economic and Social

Resilience – implementation of systems approaches to

agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture

– livelihood diversification, flexible access rights, public and private insurance

• Technological innovation (seeds, species, IT, etc)

• Planned adaptation –policy coherence across sectors (e.g water, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, coastal zone management)

• Disaster preparedness and response

Key features of the systems approach: Basic Objectives

Maintaining ecosystem integrity / ecological well being

Improving human well-being and equity

Promoting/enabling good governance

Comprehensive strategies to build resilience

in a context of climate change

• Identify/understand all the risks, vulnerabilities, systems, dimensions, tools and their targets, and how CC act on them, is necessary prior to integration in a comprehensive approach towards resilience

• Reduce, or take account of amplification effects between risks

• Organize compensation

Content Building resilience in/through forestry

FAO Forestry

• Maximize resilience of forest ecosystems • Use forests and trees to increase human resilience • Build resilient landscapes • Adopt forest policies and build institutions conducive to resilience

Tools to profile and manage risks

Building adaptive capacity to changes: address uncertainty

Animal genetics

Diversification

Genetic resources

z

Policy Framework for

FAO Forestry

Jhikhu Khola, Nepal

• Ds Forests integrated in farming

• systems and in the landscape

Integrated watershed management

Bodomo watershed, Faizabad

District, Tajikistan.

Land use plan developed through a

participatory process

Content z

FAO Forestry

Guinea. Mosaic of crop fields, pastures and

houses with boundary trees and wind breaks

Mali. Parkland agroforestry systems.

Acacia in sorghum fields, livestock in

fields after harvest

Dryland agroforestry systems

Content Policies & institutions supporting resilience

FAO Forestry

• Coordinated action and policies at national level • Strong local institutions • Capabilities for monitoring • Support adaptive research